The second state rankings for the 2017 the season have been released by the NYSSWA. Below are the WNY teams that made the cut:
Class AA
No teams ranked
Class A
Canisius #1
Park #2
Williamsville South #8
Timon #23
Class B
Health Sciences #7
East Aurora #8
Lackawanna #17
Dunkirk #22
Class C
Chautauqua Lake #3
East #7
Silver Creek #11
Barker #18
Class D
Ellicottville #6
Sherman #8
** According to the rankings...
- There are now at least three teams fro Section V ahead of Section VI in Class AA. Fairport (9), Aquinas (19), & UPrep (25) are in ranked in NYS Class AA. Niagara Falls has split with UPrep this season, with the loss coming this past weekend.
- Canisius returns to the Class A Fed Final and wins it for a second time in three seasons. The Crusaders are now the number one ranked team in NYS Class A. They moved to #1 due to Albany Academy, the defending Fed champs, losing a pair of out-of-state games. Canisius has started five juniors in their last two wins, so I guess we can go ahead and crown them for next season too. In all seriousness, I don't understand what losing games out-of-state has to do with NYS rankings. No offense intended to the boys from Delaware Avenue, but I suspect they would have gotten the same results as Albany Academy had they played those same two games.
- Williamsville South is now NYS Class A #8 (previously #9), while Timon climbed up two spots to #23. This transpired after a week in which both faced Amherst. South came back from six points down to force OT and take the win. Timon beat Amherst by 19 and trailed for one possession in the first quarter. The Billies travel to South Buffalo on Thursday night to battle Timon. The state's early line has South -8.5.
- St. Francis isn't getting any love on the state level yet. Some advice for the Red Raiders - try flirting with Neil Kerr. Tell him you really like his hair or his sense of style. Everyone likes a compliment...bound to get you the love you deserve.
- Cheektowaga debuted at #14 in NYS Class A last week and then was dropped from the rankings following the loss to Park.
- Four of the top seven teams in NYS Class C are from the Far West Region. East Rochester (#2) & Northstar Christian (#4) from Section V and Chautauqua Lake (#3) & East (#7) from Section VI.
- Silver Creek has quietly improved to 5-0 on the season and sits at #11 in NYS Class C.
- Barker fell three spots in NYS Class C for losing to Lyndonville, an unranked Class D team from Section V. Something has to give here. Either Barker should have fallen harder, or Lyndonville should be ranked in NYS Class D. Lyndonville is 3-1, with two wins over teams in Class B and the third over a state-ranked Class C team on the road (Barker). They lost to Elba, who is 4-0 and also unranked in NYS Class D. The only other working theory could be that Class D is largely considered stronger as a whole than Class C this season.
- Staying on the Class C rankings, I say it's time to throw Randolph a bone. The Cardinals have two losses, to Ellicottville and Franklinville. They also own a recent win over South Park. Even though the Sparks are clearly not the team I thought they were, that's still an impressive win for Randolph. And those two losses are not bad ones - by now, you should all know I'm high on Ellicottville. As for Franklinville...see below.
- Franklinville went from NYS Class D #19 to unranked for losing by three points at Walsh. Dropping a team from Class D rankings for losing to an undefeated Class B team sure sounds like crazy talk to me. I have no doubt that Franklinville will be in the final Class D state rankings this season, so I encourage the panel to come around on them soon. They are good.
Click HERE for the complete NYSSWA State Rankings.
-centercourt
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